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Save The Basin Reserve

Category Archives: Flyover

Tired Motorway Sales Pitch Falls Flat, Says Save The Basin Campaign

15 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by tjonescan in Basin Reserve, Flyover, Get Welly Moving, media, press release

≈ Leave a comment

The leaked transport proposals for Wellington read like a sales pitch gone badly wrong, said Save the Basin Campaign spokesperson Tim Jones.

“The tired, dated ‘four lanes to the planes’ concept is well past its sell-by date,” said Mr Jones. “A Government that’s focused on making climate change, public health and transport choices that work for everyone just isn’t going to hand over the billions of dollars required for new motorways.”

“When it comes to the Basin Reserve, all we have yet again are rumours and suggestions,” Mr Jones continued. “Until Save the Basin is presented with clear, detailed design proposals, we cannot and will not endorse any proposal that is not at the same grade as current roading, or that may threaten the Basin Reserve,” Mr Jones said.

“We need a transport system that works for everyone’s future in a changing climate,” said Mr Jones. “That means major investment in better walking and cycling, with a light rail route running through the CBD, continuing to Newtown and the hospital, and going out to Miramar and the airport. Light rail is the most efficient way to move people who don’t need to use the roads, and that helps free up the roads for those who do need them – including people on buses.”

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A possible Basin Reserve flyover has emerged again in a new “surprise survey” from LGWM

05 Saturday May 2018

Posted by tjonescan in engagement process, Flyover, Get Welly Moving, NZTA, options, transport planning

≈ Leave a comment

The Save the Basin Campaign Inc has written the following letter in response to the new Let’s Get Welly Moving “surprise survey” which LGWM chose not to notify stakeholder groups, such as Save the Basin, about:

The STBC, as a stakeholder group in the LGWM consultation process, takes strong issue with your organisation on a number of matters in relation to the existence of this survey:

  1. The survey has taken everyone at STBC by complete surprise. What is the purpose of the survey and who has it been distributed to? There was no prior notification to STBC (as a stakeholder) that LGWM would be commissioning the survey and it was only by chance that a member of the STBC committee was alerted to its existence. This is alarming and shows a complete lack of transparency and questions the validity of the survey.
  2. The process for public engagement on the LGWM scenarios closed in November last year – and in March this year LGWM released the summary of the feedback process on future transport scenarios for Wellington. Your website currently says “We’re using the feedback from the November 2017 public engagement to help guide our work as we develop a recommended programme of investment.” However, you continue to be asking for more views and ideas through this latest survey – with no information about this available to the public through your website.
  3. Of great concern is the fact the survey implies that a bridge/fly-over around the Basin Reserve is still an option – especially in the way the questions are constructed and presented.  For example in relation to design, one survey respondent said that the preferences for infrastructure around the Basin gave options for a bridge or tunnel on one page – suggesting that there were only two options – then on the next page the last part of this question appeared offering an at grade option.
  4. Although we are not circulating the survey to our members to complete, we know that others who have been alerted to the survey may.  If the survey was designed to be filled in by certain individuals or organisations, either targeted or randomly selected, the results will be invalidated if others complete it.  No-one should trust the results of this survey.

We would appreciate a response to this email.
[etc]

Let’s Get Wellington Moving to reveal its plans for the Basin Reserve – this Wednesday, 15/11, 6.30pm – at Prefab, 14 Jessie St, Te Aro

10 Friday Nov 2017

Posted by tjonescan in Act Now, Board of Inquiry, consultation, engagement process, Flyover, Get Welly Moving, NZTA, options

≈ Leave a comment

This is it. At long last, the NZTA transport planners who were defeated over the Basin Reserve flyover are going to put their new plans on the table. Be there to have your say – see below for when, where & how!

RSVP by Tuesday. If the invite links below don’t work for you, urgently email info@getwellymoving.co.nz for an invitation, or just tell them you plan to attend the event. Be polite, but be resolute.

Don’t let the short notice or the bad timing of this ‘consultation exercise’ stop you. NZTA have refused to rule out proposing another flyover at the Basin Reserve. Are you going to let them get away with that?

Be there if you possibly can: Prefab, this coming Wednesday, 15/11, 6.30pm.

Tim Jones
Co-Convenor
Save the Basin Campaign Inc.

 

Click to view this message in your browser instead
It is time to get Wellington Moving
To make Wellington more liveable and support the region’s growth we need to change the way we move in, around and through the city. Last year we asked the people of Wellington what they think about Wellington’s transport.

Now we’re back with some possible future scenarios that aim to move more people without more traffic. We’ll be seeking the public’s feedback on these in late November and early December to help us develop a preferred scenario.

We’d like to invite you to the launch of our public engagement on the 15th of November, so we can share with you our ideas to Get Wellington Moving.

Wednesday 15 November 2017
6.30 – 7:30pm
Prefab
14 Jessie Street

Let's get Wellington Moving
Direct RSVP link: https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/lets-get-wellington-moving-engagement-campaign-launch-tickets-39466058042

Nick Leggett Still Supports A Basin Reserve Flyover, Justin Lester Opposed, Jo Coughlan Says Zero Chance Of A Flyover

13 Tuesday Sep 2016

Posted by tjonescan in Flyover, local body elections, options, Wellington Scoop

≈ Leave a comment

At last night’s Wellington Scoop Mayoral Candidates forum, I asked each candidate, given that we didn’t yet know what options would emerge from the Let’s Get Welly Moving process, whether they would pledge not to support or vote for a flyover at or near the Basin Reserve.

Of the candidates:

  • Justin Lester, Helene Ritchie, and Johnny Overton all gave a firm “no” to a flyover at the Basin.
  • Nick Leggett still supports a Basin Reserve flyover, and stated that he was proud to have supported the previous, failed flyover proposal “because it was funded”. His position appeared to be that Wellington should agree with whatever the Government was prepared to fund.
  • Jo Coughlan, Nicola Young, Keith Johnson and Andy Foster all said, with varying emphases, that a flyover was unlikely, or that there were better options, but didn’t give an absolute “no” to a flyover.

Save the Basin has also surveyed Mayoral and other candidates on their views of the future of the Basin Reserve and related issues. The deadline for responses to that survey is Friday, and we’ll be letting you know the results early next week. But for now, the answers given last night may assist you in deciding which Mayoral candidates to support.

Wellington Scoop, who did an excellent job of organising and hosting the forum, has put up a full report – it’s well worth reading!

 

NZTA Refuses To Publicly Rule Out A Future Basin Reserve Flyover

05 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by tjonescan in Flyover, Governance Group, Greater Wellington, NZTA, public meeting, Wellington City Council

≈ Leave a comment

At the post-Basin flyover engagement process launch last night, I asked Jim Bentley of Let’s Get Welly Moving (the new brand of the Ngauranga to Airport Governance Group, the joint NZTA/Greater Wellington/WCC body) whether a Basin Reserve flyover was absolutely off the table as an option.

And, although he came up with a carefully-worded answer that they wouldn’t be reintroducing a previously rejected proposal (i.e. the flyover proposal rejected in 2014), he would not say that a flyover as such was off the table. When I asked him to clarify his initial answer, he simply repeated it.

That’s disturbing. And if you’re as disturbed by that news as I am, you’ve got a chance to tell NZTA directly, because they will be participating in the Mt Victoria Transport Forum next Tuesday, 12 April. It would be great if Save the Basin supporters could get along. Details are:

MT VICTORIA TRANSPORT FORUM: The Basin Reserve in the wider city

When: 7.30pm Tuesday 12 April 2016

Where: St Joseph’s Church Hall, Brougham St (see map)

Convened by the Mt Victoria Newsletter

Full details can be downloaded in this flyer.

The forum is to discuss all aspects of the post-Basin engagement process, which looks at wider transport issues across the Wellington region. I think that’s an important conversation to participate in, and it gives us the chance to describe the Wellington we want to live in. You can give your opinion at their new website.

But there are also things we don’t want. Let’s keep making that point loud and clear.

NZTA Hasn’t Yet Learned The Lesson That A Flyover Is A Terrible Idea For The Basin Reserve

16 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by tjonescan in Board of Inquiry, consultation, Flyover, Governance Group, NZTA, Wellington Scoop

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In response to the defeat of their Basin Flyover proposal in the Board of Inquiry Hearing, NZTA commissioned a Lessons Learnt Review (PDF) from Synergine Consulting. Now, as a result of an Official Information Act request, that November 2014 review has been released. It makes interesting, but depressing, reading – because it look as though NZTA has learned the wrong lessons from their failure of their flyover proposal.

What makes us say that? This quote on p. 7 sums it up:

In all the interviews the LLR (Lessons Learnt Review) team has carried out and in the LLR workshop there was strong support for the bridge option, Option A.

Option A is the flyover NZTA was so keen on building along the Basin Reserve’s north-western boundary. In its detailed analysis of NZTA’s review, which is well worth reading, Wellington Scoop says:

The report indirectly acknowledges opposition to the flyover, but seems to believe that this could somehow have been overcome if the Transport Agency had done more communicating.

 

Of course, NZTA’s high-handed, arrogant communication and “consultation” process didn’t help matters – but the real problem is that building a flyover at the Basin Reserve is a really, really bad idea – and no amount of improved communication or better coordination between project partners is going to change that. Some lessons, it seems, will take a while to learn.

 

 

Transport Minister Simon Bridges: NZTA Intends To Enter Into “Open And Collaborative Process” Over Basin Flyover Aftermath

16 Wednesday Sep 2015

Posted by tjonescan in Flyover, Greater Wellington, local bodies, Ministry of Transport, NZTA, Regional Transport Committee, Wellington City Council

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In a letter to the Save the Basin Campaign (in response to one we sent to John Key soon after the High Court decision was announced), Transport Minister Simon Bridges says some encouraging things:

The NZ Transport Agency advises me that … it intends to enter into an open and collaborative process with councils and the community to spark new conversations and ideas about the best way to deliver substantive solutions to the congestion at the Basin and other pinch points in the network.

I appreciate that you have had a strong interest in this issue over a period of time, and thank you for the time that you have already committed to developing and presenting alternative solutions for consideration.

This is great to hear – but there are concerns that the process adopted so far is neither open nor collaborative, and furthermore that the experts who have developed alternative solutions which the Board of Inquiry said deserved further consideration have not been consulted in the wake of the flyover decision.

Let’s hope that Minister Bridges’ views, as expressed in the letter above, result in the Regional Transport Committee, City and Regional Councillors, and NZTA officials demonstrating a new openness and willingness to genuinely and widely consult on the Basin, and on the best options for Wellington’s transport network.

Wellington Journalists Ask: Can Former Flyover Fans Be Trusted To Evaluate Basin Flyover Alternatives?

14 Monday Sep 2015

Posted by tjonescan in Flyover, Greater Wellington, local bodies, NZTA, options, Regional Transport Committee, Wellington City Council, Wellington Scoop

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As Wellington Scoop reported on 10 September, a small group of local body politicians and NZTA officials has taken it upon themselves to make decisions about the future of the Basin Reserve – and all but one of those local body politicians was in the pro-flyover camp:

At yesterday’s regional council meeting, three councillors sought an integrated approach to deciding on at-grade roading improvements around the Basin. Paul Bruce and Sue Kedgley were supported by Barbara Donaldson. But Paul Swain refused. He said that a small governance group of himself, Fran Wilde, Celia Wade Brown and Andy Foster, plus two Transport Agency staffers, would make the decision, and would then report back.

In a comment on this article, Councillor Helene Ritchie christened this group the “Secret Six”.

This group subsequently promised to work with the community, but there remain concerns about how well this work will in practice given the composition of that group, and whether they will be prepared to take a fresh and unbiased look at non-flyover options they had previously rejected out of hand.

In the Dominion Post, columnist Dave Armstrong came up with a memorable analogy:

It’s like getting the Keep Our Old Flag Society to design a new flag. Will this group report back with recommendations that are the urban design equivalent of three boring silver ferns and a koru that looks like a cow doing number twos?

Wellington Scoop has dug further into the track record of the members of this “governance group”, and what it has found does not inspire confidence.

For its part, Save the Basin hopes that NZTA’s decision not to pursue its flyover plans through the courts will enable even the most entrenched flyover supporters to think afresh, and we are pleased that the New Zealand Transport Agency has indicated it will take a new and more genuinely consultative approach to post-flyover discussion and decision-making. But we’re mindful of the point the preceding Wellington Scoop report makes in its final paragraph:

No doubt there’s no way of excluding Transport Agency representatives from the next round of road planning for the Basin. But the Agency should consider its past bad behaviour and find some new faces who have the ability to listen, rather than to threaten or dictate or just misrepresent.

As both Wellington Scoop and the Dominion Post have pointed out in these articles, there are real alternatives on the table at the Basin, including the BRREO, Option X and tunnelling. As Dave Armstrong points out, it makes sense to focus on approaches which are low-cost and don’t foreclose other options if they become necessary:

Some critics say that BRREO is only a short-term solution. Even if that is true, wouldn’t it be worth giving it a go? If it works, keep it; if it doesn’t, start digging for a longer-term alternative. When you look at the time and money already been wasted by myopic officials intent on a flyover, BRREO and Option X deserve some serious consideration, not just by sore losers.

What’s more, Wellington transport needs much more than a rethink at the Basin. FIT Wellington and Generation Zero have made a valuable and timely contribution to this debate with their revamped light rail (modern trams) proposal for Wellington, released last week.

NZTA has decided not to try to appeal the High Court Basin Reserve flyover decision

04 Friday Sep 2015

Posted by tjonescan in appeal, Flyover, High Court, NZTA, options

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The New Zealand Transport Agency has decided not to seek leave to appeal the High Court decision which upheld the Board of Inquiry decision to decline resource consent for a Basin Reserve flyover.

Here is the NZTA statement: http://www.nzta.govt.nz/media-releases/transport-agency-decides-not-to-appeal-high-court-basin-bridge-decision/

The following paragraph is of especial interest:

Ms Chetwynd said that the High Court ruling means this project will not proceed as the Transport Agency does not have the required approvals. She says the Agency is committed to working together with the community and local councils, particularly Wellington City Council and Greater Wellington Regional Council, to spark new conversations and ideas about the best way forward for delivering vital transport improvements for the Capital.

Who will be part of these conversations, and whose voices will be heard? It’s important that, this time, community voices and sustainable transport alternatives are to the fore.

Save the Basin’s press statement in reaction to NZTA’s announcement is below.

Save the Basin Campaign Congratulates New Zealand Transport Agency On Decision Not To Appeal Basin Reserve Flyover Issue Further

The Save the Basin Campaign today said that it was pleased that the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has decided not to seek leave from the Supreme Court to appeal the High Court decision on its proposed Basin Reserve flyover.

“It’s taken a long time for the NZTA to come to its senses,” said Save the Basin Campaign spokesperson Tim Jones, “but the decision not to pursue further legal action means central and local government and community groups such as ourselves can finally sit down and have a meaningful discussion about the best alternatives for Wellington.”

“That discussion needs to be about more than transport,” Mr Jones added. “As the Board of Inquiry clearly showed in its report, the landscape, urban design and heritage aspects of the Basin Reserve precinct are of vital importance. And what’s more, the transport issue is about more than the Basin Reserve. The decision not to pursue a flyover provides an opportunity for Wellington to develop a modern, sustainable transport system that is appropriate for the 21st century.”

“If central and local government agencies are ready to engage in open, constructive discussion,” Mr Jones concluded, “then Save the Basin will be keen to play its part.”

An Excellent Analysis By The Architectural Centre of NZTA’s Options

02 Wednesday Sep 2015

Posted by tjonescan in appeal, Flyover, High Court, NZTA, The Architectural Centre

≈ Leave a comment

NZTA has until Friday 4 September to decide whether it will seek leave from the Supreme Court to appeal its defeat in the High Court over its Basin Reserve flyover plans.

While we wait to see what their next move is and respond accordingly, it’s well worth reading this excellent analysis of NZTA’s options by The Architectural Centre.

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  • Zero fossil fuel powered vehicles in Wellington City by 2040: Councillor Roger Blakeley’s presentation to the 2018 Save the Basin Campaign AGM
  • Save the Basin Campaign Inc. 2018 AGM, Thursday 22 November: “Essentials of a 21st Century Transport Strategy” and Panel Discussion
  • Save the Basin Campaign: Basin Reserve Confusion And Mixed Transport Messages Weaken Welcome Light Rail News
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